Flying Witch – Chihiro Ishizuka

Flying Witch is a manga about a girl who is a novice witch and moves in with her second cousins while she trains to become a proper witch. It is a very simple look into life more than a fantasy in which the main character acts like a witch. In fact, her sister arrives near the end of the first story and comments on the fact that the only magic that has been done since she moved is when M- flew once on a broom.

The main character, Makoto, is not my preferred type of main character. I am drawn into stories where the characters have some depth to them, whether it is bravery, intelligence, a drive or a dream, etc. Makoto is a fairly simple character who comes across as ditzy, although well-intentioned, prone to getting lost, unable to understand typical human cues, and just happens to also be a witch. I wish that we had gotten more from the character because then I would have enjoyed this more although I hope that she gets some much-needed depth over the course of the series and this first volume is simple just because we are still getting to know the characters.

Overall, I felt that the story lacked a cohesive or logical plot and just jumped between various scenes and life experiences. I wasn’t entirely engaged, but perhaps if there is more of a fantasy/magical element to the following books in the series I would enjoy them more. There are certainly other manga series that I have enjoyed much more than this one, even with similar ditzy main characters.